Until the mid-eighteenth century, Britain's barren mountains were
regarded with fear by all thoughtful people. The romantic movement, with
its cult of the 'sublime' and of the 'picturesque', modified this
perception, and the mountainous regions of Wales, the Lake District, and
even Scotland, became fashionable to visit and to admire for their
'beauty, horror and immensity'.
But these tourists never left the well-beaten and recommended path. They
did not venture into the hills themselves. Only miners and quarrymen, or
shepherds with sheep to find, or pack-horse drivers did that. And when
the first eccentric visitors asked to be guided to the summits the
locals were amazed and bemused.
When Coleridge, wild, unconventional and physically fearless, arrived to
join the Wordsworths in the Lakes in 1799, he immediately set out onto
the high fells on his own. His records of these explorations, in his
notes and in letters, particularly to his beloved but unattainable Sara
Hutchinson, provide a totally new and modern appreciation and
understanding of the mountain landscape.
Helvellyn, Skiddaw and most of the now popular summits were visited by
him alone, without maps or any equipment beyond his notebook in which he
scribbled his impressions and his reactions--'O joy for me' he jotted on
first seeing Ullswater from the top of Great Dodd. It was not till the
very end of the nineteenth century that solitary walking on the fells
became acceptable, and then, almost overnight, universally popular and
fashionable.
This book explores and explains the experiences of a true pioneer and
one of Britain's greatest and most remarkable creative spirits.
